Rerum Novarum

Saturday, March 19, 2005

The last installment of this thread can be read HERE. To start from the beginning of this thread, please go HERE.

Again, this writer's words will be in regular font.

The basic reasoning behind the state of mind we are about to see in action has its origins in the theories of Malthus, Darwin and Galton and the development of their ideas by their "scientific" disciples.

Malthus

Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) was an English political economist and historian who in 1798 published a book called "An Essay on the Principle of Population". This document started a reaction against the earlier writings of Godwin, Condorcet and others, who reinforced the principles of emancipation and enlightenment which ensued after the French Revolution. Malthus' theories put forward here and in later works have a surprising influence even today.

He proposed that poverty, and thereby also vice and misery, are unavoidable because population growth will always exceed food production. The checks on population growth were wars, famine, and diseases. Malthus proposed "sexual abstinence" for the working class as a means by which the population excess could be diminished and a balance achieved. In this way, the "lower" social classes were made totally responsible for social misery.

This solution was based on the hypothesis that population increased in geometric progression (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 and so on) while food production increased in arithmetic progression (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and so on). The situation already existing in his time would get worse, according to his claims and would reach alarming proportions. His basic idea can be shown pictorially in the following diagram.

Picture here a graph whereby the "population growth rate" arrow rapidly approaches 90 degrees in short order while the "food supply" arrow takes three to four times as long (or longer) to gradually approach 45 degrees and you get the idea of what the picture would look like if it was posted here.

Malthus was one of the earliest, but not the last, to turn away from the economic solutions of that period, and seek to solve social problems, such as poverty, through the use of biological measures. His premises, presented as facts and his figures with an air of mathematical authority, were impressive and convincing, although his ideas were based solely on some small travels and minor observations. However, despite the grand display and presentation, some of his critics realised the absurdity of it all. Both of the growth-rates were arbitrary, for there were no statistics on population increase or food production, before or during this time, which would have permitted a forecast for the future. Apart from this, no one knew just how much land was actually cultivated or partially cultivated and how much was barren.

Malthus' presentations had the impact of a bomb; his mathematical and geometrical explanations and diagrams had a hypnotic effect, and only a few asked on what his claims were actually based. His theory has retained its persuasive power to such an extent that many of our present authorities use it as a basis of operation. Yet neither Malthus nor his later disciples ever managed to put forward any scientific proof for his theory, and in fact excellent scientists have at various times disproven Malthus' theory and the ideology resulting from it.

However, with the book, Malthus created an atmosphere which not only prevented a real solution to the social problems, but also promoted the repressive legislation which worsened the conditions of the poor in England. It was reasoned that better conditions for the poor would only encourage them to further propagate, putting those who were capable of work at a disadvantage. Malthusianism then moved forward to achieve its greatest triumph in 1834 with a new law providing for the institution of workhouses for the poor, in which the sexes were strictly separated to curb the otherwise inevitable over-breeding. This type of thinking has an inherent devaluation of human life through fear that the ever increasing population of lower classes will devour the more civilised or "better" people. This kind of philosophy, of course, urged the calling forth of drastic measures to handle the problem. The first resurgence took place a hundred and fifty years after his death, resulting in the birth-control movement, a principle which is based on Malthusianism. Following the Second World War, the idea was again taken up and today receives new momentum in the "population explosion" campaigns.

In other words, the "population explosion" advocates are descendants of Thomas Malthus and uncritical parroters of his outlook.

Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin [1809-1882], English naturalist. After years of research work formulated in 1859 his theory of evolution in his book "The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or The Preservation of Favoured Race In the Struggle for Life". Without at that time going into a study of mankind, he tried to explain the development of life-forms in terms of a struggle for existence. The result of this struggle would be a natural selection of those species and races who were to triumph over those weaker ones who would perish.

During his research he came across Malthus' essay and suddenly saw that his own theory could be expanded to include all life in the struggle for existence that would be inevitable if food production was to lag behind the growth-rate of the population. And so Darwin took over the false doctrine of Malthus and made it a cornerstone of his own theory. In 1871 he published his next large work entitled "The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex" which was based on his earlier book but which dealt almost exclusively with man. In it he came to the reasonable conclusion that both in physical structure and physiological behaviour, there was no difference between man and other mammals. However, the idea that this was also applicable to mental and moral qualities, shows that he was on unsound ground. Although Darwin was an excellent naturalist, he was not a very good philosopher. In his attempt to explain the social development of Man as a struggle for existence and selection through natural means, he compounded the error that Malthus had made by yet another attempt to apply a biological solution to philosophical and social problems. Darwin's speculations, to be found in his "Notebook", that thought was a brain secretion, is completely without basis.

Modern theories of evolution finally succeeded in clarifying this confusion by separating the development of man into two different steps, animal and psycho-social. Despite this, Darwin's theses and those of his followers have been very influential over a long period. They caused a significant shift in the social thinking of that time, the consequences of which can still be felt today.

Darwin's natural selection theory coupled with Malthus' theory of population explosion if taken together implied some kind of social mechanism being put in place to weed out the "undesirables" from the population. Enter Francis Galton into the picture.

Galton

Francis Galton [1822-1911] was an English psychologist and a half-cousin of Darwin. Very erratic in his thought processes, he was unable to complete research in even one area. Hardly would he begin a research project before throwing out a theory and then move on to a new field leaving the proof of the theory to others. He was so fascinated with Darwin's theory, that he spent an unusually lengthy period of years trying to prove that mental abilities were hereditary. In 1869 he published his book "Hereditary Genius" and in 1883 "Enquiries into Human Faculty". In his "Enquiries" he undertook to transfer his hereditary theories from the individual to the whole race.

Galton extended Darwin's theory of natural selection into a concept of deliberate social intervention, which he held to be the logical application of evolution to the human race. Galton was by no means satisfied to let evolution take its course freely. Having decided to improve the human race through selective breeding, brought about through social intervention, he developed a subject which he called "Eugenics", the principle of which was that by encouraging better human stock to breed and discouraging the reproduction of less desirable stock, the whole race could be improved.

By combining the theories of Malthus and Darwin, Galton created the theory he titled as "eugenics" which advocated attempts to create a super race by encouraging better human stock to breed and discouraging the reproduction of less desirable stock. Hopefully the reader is starting to see the sordid direction which this path is starting to tread...

Social Darwinism

The pseudo-science resulting from the fusion of Darwin's evolutionary theory with social and political theories.

Charles Darwin was a very humane man, who probably would have been greatly enraged at the extremes to which his theories were taken. He had made a tragic error in attempting to extend the biological law of the struggle for survival to the social life of man. In so doing he played into the hands of "experts" of later generations, by giving them the impressive scientific justification for their barbaric actions of "natural selection", "preservation of favoured races" and the "struggle for life". It was passages of the following type in "The Descent of Man" that would have been most welcomed by them:

"With savages, the weak in body or mind are soon eliminated; and those that survive commonly exhibit a vigorous state of health. We civilised men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of elimination; we build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed, and the sick; we institute poor-laws; and our medical men exert their utmost skill to save the life of every one to the last moment. There is reason to believe that vaccination has preserved thousands, who from a weak constitution would formerly have succumbed to small-pox. Thus the weak members of civilised societies propagate their kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. It is surprising how soon a want of care, or care wrongly directed, leads to the degeneration of a domestic race; but excepting in the case of man himself, hardly any one is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed."

Social theories based on the "survival of the fittest" had been circulating before the publication of "Origin of Species", and even before Darwin himself. Herbert Spencer, a social theorist and scientist had already propounded the social implications of this theory some years before the appearance of Darwin's book:

"The well-being of existing humanity, and the unfolding of it into this ultimate perfection, are both secured by the same beneficent, though severe discipline, to which the animate creation at large is subject; a discipline which is pitiless in the working out of good; a felicity- pursuing law which never swerves for the avoidance of partial and temporary suffering. The poverty of the incapable, the distresses that come upon the imprudent, the starvation of the idle, and those shoulderings aside of the weak by the strong... are the decrees of a large far-seeing providence..."

Consider what is noted above as it pertains to the contemporary example of Terri Schiavo.

[O]r, in plain language, the fittest survive. In a later edition of "Origin of Species", Darwin himself described Spencers "survival of the fittest" phrase as being more accurate than his own "natural selection". Finally, in Darwin's work the social theorists had found the scientific rationale that lent respectability to their arguments. This fusion came to be known as Social Darwinism, a movement that gained increasing momentum with its demands for social legislation in accordance with the principle of "the fittest must survive", and its effects were calamitous for later generations.

And what is the attempts to kill Terri Schiavo but an echo of the utilitarian weltanschauung that her life is to be seen as valuable only to the extent of what valued" on what she "produces"???

Racism and Racial Hygiene

Although the beginnings of racism lie far back in history, its actual modern development really begins with the Frenchman, Arthur Count de Gobineau [1816-1882] who published his classic racist pronouncement "Essay on the Inequality of Human Races" in 1853-1857. Greatly misinterpreted by others, he wrote in a romantic fashion of a fair-haired Aryan race that was superior to all others. Gobineau maintained that remnants of this race could be found in various countries in Europe constituting a tiny racial aristocracy decaying under the overwhelming weight of inferior races. He made no special claims for the superiority of German Aryans, nor markedly denigrated other races. His racialism embraced not so much the races as the classes, the aristocracy versus the proletariat. Nevertheless, his ideas were widely distorted to fit the racial superiority theories of others. Hardly noticed in his own country, he enjoyed great popularity in Germany.

Please reflect for a moment on the underlined passages of the previous paragraph.

As we have already seen, an amalgamation of ideas occurred shortly before the turn of the century. Darwinism, united with social theories, became Social Darwinism, which in turn included Eugenics. In 1890 Gobineau's book was revived and in 1894 the Gobineau Association was founded in Germany. His writings were popularised at this time by the Pan-Germans, an extremely nationalistic and anti-Jewish group who, though small in numbers, were very strong, their members including a high proportion of teachers.

In other words, this idea was advanced into greater society by academia -in this case a Frenchman who became very popular in Germany in the nineteenth century by propounding racial superiority theories of a so-called "Aryan race."

In 1899, Gobineau's disciples Houston Stewart Chamberlain [1855-1927], an Englishman holding German citizenship, published his two volume work, "The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century", in Germany. It proved immensely popular and ran into many editions. Departing from Gobineau's rather flowery ideas, he upheld the German race to be the purest form of Aryanism and damned the inferior races, the Jews and Negroes, as degenerate.

Chamberlain combined the scientific fact of the existence of different races with an enriched mystical significance attached to one race, the Aryans, who had supposedly existed since the dawn of time. These mystical Aryans were held to be responsible for all the great cultures of the past, each of which had declined because the Aryans allowed other races to intermix with them resulting in the fall of that civilisation-Egypt, Greece, Rome all perished.

This writer is wondering if the reader will note the seeds of white supremacy and (by logical extension) white separatism which are planted in the above paragraph.

Eugenics, Social Darwinism and Racial Hygiene now join hands, although Eugenics is the only one of these that one could manage to call a science. It is a movement which has attracted many medical men, and these have given the scientific means of assisting Social Darwinism in its endeavours to favour the fittest, and Racial Hygienists in their efforts to improve the race.

From this point on, Eugenics, Social Darwinism and Racial Hygiene fused so strongly that it would prove a useless endeavour to try to differentiate between them.

For those who want to see what is really behind the attempt to exterminate Terri Schiavo -and why those who promote her demise need to be vigorously opposed- the following work will outline the basics of a weltanschauung of the human being that unfortunately did not die with the fall of Nazi Germany but continues today in the pseudo-"progressivist" movement. The text of the author will be in black font and any interjections on the part of this writer will be in regular font. Without further ado, the introduction of the work The Men Behind Hitler as translated from the original German

This book began as an attempt on my part to gain an insight into certain missing or obscure chapters in the history of our country.

Much has already been written, both here and abroad, many attempts made to identity the motives, but I have always felt that the whole story has never been told.

As my inquiries and researches advanced, I began to realise that I had stumbled on something more significant than originally thought.

Germany had not only victimised (and I will not attempt to absolve my country) but had itself become a victim of something far more dangerous and far-reaching than National Socialism, racialism or any other ism. Its foundations were laid in the early 20th century culminating during the period that Hitler set Europe ablaze and it used the insanity of war to disguise much of its activities.

The post-war reforms served as a new cover, and the kernel of a fresh social onslaught lies waiting in several countries today. I discovered that the events in Germany were the background to a few notable facts concerning the 60s and 70s.

It was at this point that I was forced to make a difficult decision. Obviously I had to make the story known to others to warn them, but should I wait until my research was complete (I had no way of knowing how much longer this might take) or should I now publish the facts I had so far collected?

I decided on the latter course. But more work needs to be done, more evidence must be collected, and more must be written. Having revealed part of the truth I hope others will wish to find out more and make their findings known.

Friday, March 18, 2005

On an Upcoming Weblog Series:
(Musings of your humble servant at Rerum Novarum)

As Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was pulled today, it seems appropriate to this writer to delve into the uncomfortable historical parallels of what we are seeing today in the case of Ms. Schiavo and those who want to see her dead. But before that is done, a very brief reminder of something that has been a recurring theme at this humble weblog virtually since its founding is necessary. That theme of course involves the enunciation of, further development of, and practical application of law and its role in a just society.

To start with, those who think that this is merely some eccentric obsession of the present writer (or that too much time is spent on those themes at this humble weblog) need to recognize that Our instincts on this matter -be they in the situation of Terri Schiavo or several others noted at various times- have been correct all along. We have perceived for a long time that what is needed to actually win the culture war (rather than merely postpone the day of execution) is a consistent principle of ethics tied to a consistent set of guidelines for keeping law within its proper bounds in society.{1}

For it is precisely because the law is not properly in check down in Florida{2} which is why people such as Judge Greer hold the power of life and death in his hands for people such as Terri Schiavo. He should not even be in that position to begin with!!! But he is because the bulk of those who fight in defense of legitimate rights (as opposed to pseudo-"rights") do not know their right hand from their left with an alarming degree of frequency. That is the reason why this writer decided early in the life of this weblog to (i) run in full a series on Claude Frederic Bastiat's monumental theory on The Law, (ii) follow it up with explicit (as opposed to previously more implicit) applications of that theory while (iii) developing further in the process some additional criteria for its application in modern society.

In other words, there is a method to Our apparent madness here at Rerum Novarum. And for that reason, it bears reiterating anew the reason why those of Us at Rerum Novarum have sought to provide a a consistent principle for argumentation on the fundamental rights of man for the past couple of years. What brought about this decision was the rapid escalation of situations such as this where (i) a fundamental right was being violated by a perverse application of the law and (ii) the manifested inconsistencies that permeate the overall outlooks of those who have tried to defend one such right while undermining other rights that require simultaneous defense if their chosen right is to be truly advanced and not undermined. (Either explicitly or by logical implication.)

Now truthfully is not the time to reiterate what the fundamental rights of man are and how they must be defended together -that is a subject covered in many a thread here at Rerum Novarum in the past. (Not to mention future expansions on this theme where it is warranted by the present writer.) No, at this time it suffices to merely point out in brief that no true right is given its full justice when it is dichotomized from other similarly true rights in the manner so common with single-issue advocates. It has been noted by the present writer on numerous occasions that this kind of myopia is profoundly counterproductive; ergo it only needs to be mentioned in passing at the present time. And as that has now been achieved, let us move to the true purpose of this post and also to the series that will follow it in short order.

The purpose of this post is not to retread that ground with previously enunciated theories aimed at long term solutions to these problems -but instead to touch on them and then move towards a shorter term plan of action for the present time. For a woman is is being killed at the present time and expository disputations are not properly utilized here. No, at this time it is important to strip away the pretentions that clothe those who in true Orwellian double-speak fashion are claiming to "care" for someone whom they are trying to kill out of a twisted sense of "compassion."

It is time to lay bare what these people really are and from which polluted wells they have drawn sustinence for their operative points of view. In doing this, let it be noted in advance that those who are affiliated with the BlogsforTerri movement can feel free to circulate what I am about to post sequentially in whatever medium as they see fit. The purpose here is to help paint with the appropriate colours the true picture of those who want to see this woman dead. But enough ado and let us get to the first part of this thread.

The author of the work that will be reproduced in its totality here at Rerum Novarum in the coming days is Bernhard Schreiber. The following is a brief outlining of whom he is and what he has sought to accomplish in the writing of the work you are about to read:

Bernhard Schreiber was born in 1942 in Stuttgart after his father died in action as an officer of the Luftwaffe. After his education in Germany he studied journalism in America and travelled extensively as a freelance journalist. During the last five years he has been researching the material for this book and decided to publish the German Edition as a first result of his research. He will be continuing his research with colleagues and he has received a grant from a large university for this purpose. When his work does not take him abroad he lives with his family in Germany.

As this work was translated from German, the following is a note from the translator:

When I first heard of Bernhard Schreiber's work I was convinced that a work along these lines was needed in English.I met Mr. Schreiber and he consented to his work being translated and I am, in fact, indebted to him for his help in ensuring that his exact meaning was put into English. It is refreshing to work with an author who can cross check your translation. He has edited certain errors and improved the documents section which he felt was lacking in the original.My thanks to C.S. Carr for his assistance with the translation of the documents and to Miss P. Carter for the typing and retyping.H. R. Martindale

The following is a brief note specifying the manifested intention of the author viz. the distribution of his work:

It is my desire that this book be distributed as widely as possible; and thus I hereby not only give my consent, but urge the distribution, translation, publication, reprinting and quoting of this book in part or in whole by any person, group or organisation that may wish to so do.Unfortunately my financial situation made it impossible to distribute this book as widely as I would have liked, and I hope that the step I have taken will inspire others to actively participate in this German warning to the world.

And indeed We at Rerum Novarum will be posting this book in its entirety in the hope that somehow, someone out there who can influence this situation will be given either the courage to act or (in the case of the enemies of Terri) the grace of repentence and conversion. Perhaps in doing this, the readers will be much more disposed to take seriously what We have been saying all along about (i) the fundamental rights of man, (ii) how fundamental rights are properly discerned from pseudo-"rights", and (iii) the role of law in a just society.

But now, it seems appropriate to post the dedication of this work and move onto the first part of the work so that is what will be done:

This book is humbly dedicated to the memory of countless ordinary people - those men, women, children and babies of many races and beliefs, whose lives were taken because they were considered less than perfect and, therefore, unworthy to live. I hope that this small book will serve in its own way to keep their memory alive and that it will help to remind us all of the price we have to pay when extremists have the power to decide upon our right to live.

And finally, this writer would be remiss in not thanking Liz Toolan for making this material accessible for the purpose whereby it will be used at Rerum Novarum in the coming days and weeks. The first installment of this work will be put up sometime tomorrow time (and God) willing.

{1} Furthermore, these principles must be (i) capable of separating the wheat from the tares in the culture war and (ii) they must be in a form that is accessible to (and applicable by) all people of good will -be they people of faith or not.

{2} To say nothing about the lack of law being kept within its proper domains in other states of the Union and the federal government of course.

Monday, March 14, 2005

Briefly on Iraq, WMD's, and Another Pseudo-"Progressivist" War Dogma Bites the Dust:

It has been well-noted at this weblog the views of your humble servant on the entire WMD subject. Indeed, all the reader has to do is peruse the links of the side margin or the weblog's archives to find several statements on this matter. To save on time, this writer will point out two representative threads on the subject which pertain directly to what will be dealt with in this post (i) a points to ponder segment from December 14, 2003 and (ii) this thread from September 18, 2004. All of this is noted because what We at Rerum Novarum have long maintained on the WMD subject -that there were munitions but they were looted- finally receives the equivalent of an imprimatur from the mainstream media (MSM).

Indeed, as Little Green Footballspoints out, the Old New York Times is finally publishing articles admitting to as much. They are only a couple of years behind the curve here -a tacit confirmation of the value of the blogosphere and other alternative media outlets. But it is better that they come to the party late than not arrive at all.

Nonetheless, it bears noting that those who are hoping that the Times or any other MSM outlet will "announce" in an article or three the sites in Syria where so much of the missing munitions are probably located...well...at this rate, it will probably take eight to twelve more months (or longer) for the NYT and the rest of the MSM to catch up and report on that. Those of Us who already know this will have to work hard to mask our "told ya so's" at that time -but then again, that is par for the course.

And finally, those who have played the "Bush Lied" and "No WMD's" canard all this time are not likely as a rule to admit that they were wrong. No, they will continue in their end justifies the means style of "reasoning" that anything to discredit President Bush and his Administration is fair game -however erroneous the assertions they make happen to be. These sorts are not about to issue any mea culpas no matter how many times their positions are soundly confuted -for reason and logic are not what they rely on to arrive at their positions; ergo it is not by those means that they will be brought to see their errors -if indeed they ever are. (Though hope springs eternal of course.)

“We should not have an 'open mind'
because that means we grant plausibility
to anything, however, we should have a
discerning mind." [Mike Mentzer]

"Not everything is fit to print.
There is to be regard for at least
probable factual accuracy, for danger
to innocent lives, for human decencies,
and even, if cautiously, for nonpartisan
considerations of the national interest."
[Alexander Bickel]

"Ninety five percent of what is
published on all subjects is hogwash."
[Arthur Jones]

[W]hat I observed [with other
people] was abject conformity and
the desperate desire for the safety
of will-less passivity. Not passivity
of the body, but passivity of the
mind…They were either unwilling or
unable to think beyond the confines
established by the pack…They lead
blighted lives, bereft of any
interest in science, philosophy,
morality or art… They were merely
passing through existence, as
cultural ballast, individuals that
never looked up, held nothing
sacred; while I and others seeking to
achieve the ideal were righteously
doing what truly, in logic and
reality, was of fundamental
importance. [Mike Mentzer]

"The Catholic Church is like
a thick steak, a glass of red wine,
and a good cigar." [attributed to
G K Chesterton]

Glenn Reynolds Says

"I thought the notion of a 'renaissance man' in the modern world was absurd until I read Rerum Novarum and saw that I was wrong."

[:::....Any correspondence will be presumed eligible for blogging unless the sender otherwise specifies. This is referred to as the Welborn Protocol and is a policy that will be followed at Rerum Novarum. (Though name and email information will as a rule not be posted without explicit request to do so by the sender.)

*Rerum Novarum is properly understood to be copyrighted in accordance with other writings of Shawn M. except with regards to Guest Editorials to the extent necessary for the authors of said pieces to thereby retain all rights to their work thereof.

*My approval of a website, weblog, or essay is to be properly understood as approval of a macro nature and not necessarily a micro one and the macro approval pertains to the general theme so categorized not necessarily to micro elements not pertaining to said theme thereof.